Displaying items by tag: John Bel Edwards

Good news for the State of Louisiana and politically, for Governor John Bel Edwards and others in the legislature.

One of the remnants from the Jindal administration is now history.

Current Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser has brought up an interesting idea.  Have the governor and the lieutenant governor run together on the same ticket.  Such a system exists in a majority of states across the nation.

As Nugesser states:  “The ticket idea seems to work well in other states. We ought to consider it. The only way I can do the best job I can do is to have a good working relationship with the governor.”

The Mississippi River Ship Channel could be the first port complex on the Gulf Coast to reach a depth of 50 feet now that the Director’s Report has been signed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Elected officials and industry leaders have long worked to increase the channel’s depth to 50 feet, which is the same depth of the expanded Panama Canal.

It is early, but the jockeying has already begun in the 2019 Louisiana Governor’s race. The incumbent, Governor John Bel Edwards, is vulnerable as the only Democrat in a statewide elected office in Louisiana. In fact, Edwards is the only Democrat Governor in the Deep South.

He was elected in unusual circumstances in 2015, with a vulnerable GOP opponent, then U.S. Senator David Vitter. He was able to win because he shrewdly focused on his military service throughout the campaign. Edwards also campaigned as a conservative Democrat who defended the Second Amendment and was opposed to abortion.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has a 49% approval and 35% disapproval rating per a new survey released today. Sixteen percent don't know or have no opinion.  The Morning Consult national survey ranked the most and least positive governors.

Today, two announcements have hit the wires which indicate that a sense of optimism could be coming.

First, a press release measuing $1.49 billion in good news. The second is a statement by Governor John Bel Edwards promoting economic growth this first quarter of 2018 in GDP.

Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that his request for a third extension of the federal temporary housing program for survivors of the August 2016 floods has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through January 15, 2019. Gov. Edwards requested that homeowners be given additional time and the low rent for the Mobile Housing Units (MHUs) be retained as survivors rebuild their homes that were either severely damaged or destroyed by the floods. The incremental rent increases on the MHUs remains in place.  FEMA has confirmed this will be the final extension to the program.

Today, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced $60 million in new coastal projects to be built and paid for with funds from the settlement of the Deepwater Horizon, BP Oil Spill.

In the same week that CNBC ranked Texas as the state with the best economy in the nation, Bankrate listed Louisiana as the 4^th worst state in the nation to retire. Analyst Taylor Tepper cited the state’s “very high crime,” as one of the reasons for the poor ranking. This makes sense because retirees usually do not want to move to a state where they will be robbed or murdered.

How is Louisiana's economy doing now that the oil prices have improved, especially since Louisiana is so dependent upon that industry? There have been reports about a poor Louisiana economy, so is it fair to blame the current governor, John Bel Edwards?  Is the United States losing the manufacturing battle against the world as President Donald Trump has been claiming?